mikejm, you should check whether your firewall is blocking SVCHOST from accessing the internet. You should un-block svchost service from your firewall in order for Windows Update to work.

Thank you Nanosani for your reply, could you please advise how I check to see if SVCHOST is being blocked by my firewall in Windows 7.

Thanks

Mikejm,

Microsoft does have an official Windows 7 Support Forum located here http://social.technet.microsoft.com/...egory/w7itpro/ . It is supported by product specialists as well as engineers and support teams. You may want to check the threads available there for additional assistance and feedback.

Jessica
Microsoft Windows Client Team

Windows Update error 8024402C:

Have a look here;

http://windowshelp.microsoft.com/Win...504611033.mspx

Thank you JessicaD42 and Adamsappleone for your replies, unfortunately I may have not explained myself good enough, but any web site with microsoft is unattainable as is windows update. So getting help via Microsoft is out of the question till I resolve my problem.

All other web sites are all OK.

Thanks again

Sounds like you may have picked up a trojan.
Try this program, see if it helps; It's called "Trojan Remover"
http://www.simplysup.com/

Thank you "Adamsappleone" for your suggestion, I loaded and ran "Trojan Remover" and this stated that I was infected with the Trojan W32/virut.

Obtained "fixvirut.com" from "symantec" and ran this in "Safe mode" using ms-dos.

After 90 minutes this program stated that my computer is not infected with this virus.

On further checking with "Trojan Remover", I get the file size for C:\windows\system32\userinit.exe is not the correct size and should be scanned with virus removal tool from "Grisoft".

As I am unable to access any Microsoft web site as well as any Anti Software web site, I feel I am "stuck".

I do have "Spyware Doctor with Antivirus Ver. 6 "and "Registry Mechanic Ver. 8" loaded on my computer even though they are not supporting Windows 7 at this stage.

Any further suggestions from anyone?

Thanks

OK, I would suggest downloading and running this tool (http://www.combofix.org/), however, this is a very powerful tool and should only be used by a trained malware removal tech that instructs you to do so, which I am not.
You should start a new thread here; http://www.daniweb.com/forums/forum64.html

Good luck,

Don

mikejm, which firewall are you using? Disable the firewall and then try to do it. If it works, then surely it's the firewall that's the culprit. You can do the following:

If it is Windows Firewall then you can go to Control Panel --> Windows Firewall --> Exceptions and add svchost to the exception list.

svchost is located in C:\Windows\System32\svchost.exe

Usually Windows firewall does not block Microsoft's own services. So I suppose you're using a 3rd party firewall.
If you are using any other firewall, you can add the same exe file to the exception list.